Apparatus for dressing beef cattle



April 9, 1968 J, HAGER ET AL 3,376,828

APPARATUS FOR DRESSING BEEF CATTLE Filed Oct. 11, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1IS F! g. I A H INVENTORS JOHN L. HAGER CLYDE 0. WHITE April 1968 J. L.HAGER ET AL 3,376,828

APPARATUS FOR DRESSING BEEF CATTLE Filed Oct. 11, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

INVENTORS 1 Fig. 2 JOHN L... HAGER CLYDE c. WHITE United States Patent3,376,828 APPARATUS FOR DRESSING BEEF CATTLE John L. Hager, Northfield,Minn., and Clyde C. White,

Omaha, Nebn, assignors to Northfield Equipment and Manufacturing Co.,Northfield, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed Oct. 11, 1965, Ser.No. 494,424 3 Claims. (Cl. 1041) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatusfor dressing beef cattle comprising a generally circular rail for movingbeef carcasses, located above a fioor having carcass-dressing stationsthereon below the rail, whereby an efficient dressing operation may beperformed in a lesser area than heretofore.

This invention relates to the meat packing industry and moreparticularly it has reference to compact, unitized apparatus fordressing beef cattle.

A current trend in the meat packing industry is for the establishment ofsmall independent plants throughout the stock-raising areas. Instead ofshipping livestock to large packing centers, it is often more economicalto establish a small, local plant in an area. In order that such plantsmay be run on a profitable basis, it is necessary that both the capitalinvestment and the labor costs of operation be held to a minimum.

In a typical beef cattle dressing operation under the prior art, thecarcass, with head and rear feet removed, is suspended by its two rearlegs from a trolley-supported spreader which is about four feet wide.The trolley is moved along an exended rail which is supported fromoverhead girders so that the carcass will be brought into position fordressing operations thereon at various stations located along andbeneath the rail. The complete rail, consisting of several straight railsections, extends around the packing house with some of the railsections in parallel relation and others disposed at an angle to eachother. The respectively adjacent ends of the rail sections are connectedby relatively short curved sections. with such a circuitous arrangementof the dressing rail, the various carcass dressing stations are spacedwidely apart so that a relatively large floor space is required. Sincethe stations are widely scattered and with some at least partiallyconcealed from view from the others, a supervisory foreman hasdifliculty in keeping the operators at the various stations under propersurveillance.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide improved apparatusfor dressing beef cattle which will overcome the disadvantages of theprior art by affording apparatus which will be relatively simple andcompact in structure, yet efficient in operation with a minimum numberof operators.

Other objects are to provide compact, unitized beef dressing equipmentwhich can be installed so as to make the most eflicient use of space ina building; can be installed in an existing building without extensivebuilding alterations; can be operated with a minimum number ofsupervisory and inspection personnel and will provide greater latitudein the installation and operation of beef dressing equipment.

These and other objects and advantages reside in certain novel featuresof construction, arrangement and combination of parts as will be morefully described hereinafter and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of beef dressing apparatus embodying theinvention.

3,376,828 Patented Apr. 9, 1968 FIG. 2 is a side elevation of thecircular rail and supporting means showing a carcass at one station andpart of the equipment.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the means for supporting the interruptedcircular rail.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings wherein10 indicates, generally, the rail supporting means comprising a centralstand or pedestal 11 which rests on and is secured to the base or floorplate 12 and is braced thereon by the welded brace plates 13. Extendingradially outward from the upper part of the pedestal 11 and securedthereto, as by welding, are the supporting arms 14. Welded or otherwisesecured to the outer ends of the respective arms 14, is thesubstantially circularly shaped band 15. Secured to the approximatemid-point of each arm 14 is a brace arm '16 which extends downwardly andinwardly for attachment, as by welding, to the pedestal 11. The baseplate 12 may be secured to the floor by suitable bolts, not shown.

Suspended from and extending around the band 15 is the rail 17. The band15 and the rail 17 each take the form of a substantially closed circleexcepting for an opening or interruption which is indicated at 18.Connected to the rail 17, at the left side of opening 18, is theentrance rail 19 which extends into a conventional slaughter area, notshown. Connected to the rail -17 at the right hand side of opening 18 isthe exit rail 20 which extends past the carcass shrouding station H andinto a conventional storage cooler, not shown.

Positioned along and on the inner and outer sides of the vertical planeof the rail 17 are the units of beef dressing equipment 21 located atthe several spaced beef dressing stations. A conventional beef dressingoperation is performed progressively upon a carcass M at each of thesuccessive stations as the carcass is moved from station to stationalong the rail 17. Located at each of the stations is the conventionalbeef dressing equipment 21, such as platforms, air operated knives and ahide puller, necessary to perform the dressing operations at therespective stations.

In a beef dressing operation, for example, a beef carcass with head andrear feet removed is carried by the conventional spreader and trolleyonto the entrance rail 19 and thence onto the rail 17 to the firstdressing station, indicated at A, where are performed the usual rump andbung operations. The carcass is then moved to station B where the frontfeet are removed and the front, shank and neck are cleared, thence tostation C for the side clearing operation and thence to station D forthe hide pulling operation.

At the next station E, the rail 17 has a short section of straight trackwhich can be dropped so that the carcass can be lowered, turned andeviscerated. This rail dropper section is conventional and is not shown.From station E the carcass is moved to station F for the operations ofsplitting and bruise trimming. Preliminary inspection of the carcass isusually made at a location between stations E and F and final inspectionis made at station G. If a carcass is to be retained for a more criticaland further inspection, it is moved onto the conventional retain rail23. From station G the carcass is moved into the wash and shrouding areaindicated at H and thence onto the exit rail 20 and into a cooler, notshown.

In one successful embodiment of the invention, the rail 17 and itssupporting band 15 form a substantially circular configuration having adiameter of approximately 20 feet and a circumference of about 60 feet.The supporting stand 10 and the band I15 are of welded steel structureand the rails 17, 19 and 20 are also formed of steel. The structure issuch that the rail 17 is about 11 feet above the level of floor 24 whichis formed with a circular drain or gutter 25 located below andcoextensive with the rail 17. For optimum efficiency and performance,the dressing rail' 17 should have a substantially circular configurationof about 2025 feet in diameter.

With apparatus embodying the invention and having a rail diameter of2025 feet, it is possible to dress up to about 30 beef cattle per hour.For this operation, a minimum number of operators, one at each station,are needed. Since all of the operators are visible from practically anystation, it is possible for the foreman to oversee all operations with aminimum amount of walking. Hence, a socalled working foreman can actboth as an operator and as a supervisor. A single oflicial inspector canperform his duties from a location between station E and F and then stepover to station G for the final inspection.

The floor space required for the beef dressing rail of the invention isreduced to a minimum because of the etficient use of the space along thesubstantially circular rail. The rail may be carried by floor supportedmeans such as the central pedestal or stand, for example. With such asarrangement, the dressing rail may be readily installed in an existingbuilding with a minimum amount of building alteration. Since theinvention embodies a compact, unitized beef dressing apparatus,additional units may be installed if larger dressing capacity isrequired. The dressing units are independently operated so that thenumber of units in operation will depend on the number of beef cattleavailable, Hence, the invention afiords greater flexibility in theinstallation and operation of beef dressing apparatus than is possiblewith prior art apparatus.

Under the prior art practices, beef dressing operations are carried outwith the carcasses moving on relatively long, straight sections of railwhich run in an extended, circuitous path around the packing house. Bythe use of the invention, it has been found that the amount of floorspace required for a given dressing capacity will be about 30% less thanthat repuired under conventional prior art practice. The beet carcass ismoved along rail 17 by conventional means, not shown.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the objects of theinvention have been attained by providing new and improved beef dressingapparatus. Various modifications may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention as pointed out in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for dressing beef cattle comprising a floor having anupright standard secured thereto, means supporting a circularly-shapedband susbtantially above the floor in a generally horizontal plane, saidsupporting means including arms connected to said band and standard,said band having a rail coextensive therewith and said band also havingan interruption forming an opening, said rail continuing to said openingand projecting in a radial direction therefrom forming substantiallyparallel spaced entrance and exit rail sections, circumferentiallyspaced beef-dressing stations on said floor below said circular band,and carcass-carrying trolleys movable on said rail sections and rail toand from said beet-dressing stations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which said entrance rail section passesthrough a cattle-slaughter area and said exit rail section passesthrough a carcass-washing and shrouding area.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, in which said arms extend radially from thestandard and an angularly-disposed brace member is connected to an armand to the standard.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 243,809 7/1881 Sparrow 17-1621,116 3/1899 Mandel 171 1,480,232 1/1924 Trimble 104-126 1,773,5408/1930 Moss 105150 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

J. E. BABER, D. F. WORTH, Assistant Examiners.

